Bryan Cave LLP is notching a couple of firsts this week. The firm said on Wednesday that it has selected its first female chair, white-collar litigator Therese Pritchard–who also happens to be the first Bryan Cave leader based outside the firm’s historic home turf of St. Louis in its 140-year history.

It is the latest sign that women, who have long been underrepresented among law firm leadership, are penetrating BigLaw’s upper echelons.

“I think the playing field is leveling out, and I think firms can select leaders from a more diverse talent pool than ever before,” Ms. Pritchard said in an interview. “I do remember the days when I was for the most part the only woman in the room. I think slowly, over the decades, women have taken on more responsibility and been recognized for their contributions more and more.” Read More »

The law is “what I perceive to be my major profession,” Ed Koch told a reporter in 1990 during his first months on the job as partner at the Manhattan law firm Robinson, Silverman, Pearce, Aronsohn & Berman.

In the wake of his death, Law Blog spoke with one of the legendary NY mayor’s legal colleagues about his role at the firm, which later merged with St. Louis-based Bryan Cave LLP.

Vincent Alfieri, managing partner of Bryan Cave’s New York City office, said Mr. Koch never litigated cases but was an “elder statesman” who brought “tremendous reputational benefits and name recognition” to the firm. . . . .Read More »

About Law Blog

The Law Blog covers the legal arena’s hot cases, emerging trends and big personalities. It’s brought to you by lead writer Jacob Gershman with contributions from across The Wall Street Journal’s staff. Jacob comes here after more than half a decade covering the bare-knuckle politics of New York State. His inside-the-room reporting left him steeped in legal and regulatory issues that continue to grab headlines.

Must Reads

Plaintiffs' lawyers dodged a bullet last year when the U.S. Supreme Court spared a quarter-century-old precedent that had served as the legal linchpin of the modern investor class-action case. Despite that win, a new report suggests that securities class actions have lost some of their firepower.

In a week in which images of Prophet Muhammad were connected to acts of terror and defiant expressions of freedom, a sculpture of the prophet of Islam inside the U.S. Supreme Court has drawn little notice.

Alan Dershowitz has vowed to slap a defamation suit against the two lawyers who claimed in a court document that Florida financier Jeffrey Epstein arranged sexual liaisons for him with an underage prostitute. Those lawyers have beaten him to the punch.

The salacious allegations against Prince Andrew and Alan Dershowitz that surfaced in a federal lawsuit involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have generated international attention. Drawing less coverage is the lawsuit itself -- a case with the potential to expand the rights of crime victims during federal investigations.